Hispanic groups urge Penzone to stay in sheriff's race

PHOENIX -- Some of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's critics said Tuesday's election may not be over.

Democratic candidate Paul Penzone ended his campaign with a concession speech in which he said that "it looks like the numbers are going to be insurmountable. Unfortunately, it didn't work out in our favor."

The latest election results showed Penzone still trailed Arpaio by about nine percentage points, but Randy Parraz of the Hispanic rights group Citizens for a Better Arizona said the election isn't over. There are 420,000 early and provisional ballots that haven't been counted.

Parraz claimed that most of the ballots are from Hispanic areas that are strongholds for both Penzone and Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Richard Carmona, who lost to Republican Jeff Flake.

Parraz argued that both Penzone and Carmona should retract their concession speeches until all of the votes are counted.

"I don't give a (expletive) about what the political strategists tell you what to do," said Parraz. "I don't care if a strategist says you should concede. What about the voters? What about the people who went out there and knocked on doors for Paul Penzone and Richard Carmona?"

Meanwhile, several Hispanic groups are holding a vigil outside of the Maricopa County Election building on Thursday. They're demanding that County Recorder Helen Purcell provide a full accounting of mistakes they said were made on Election Day and the ballots that have yet to be counted.

Purcell issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that "every effort is being made to complete the processing and tabulation of the 2012 General Election early ballots and provisional ballots."

Favorite news memory: We have to go
back to October 15, 1979. I was a country
music air personality at KROP Radio in
Brawley, California, when we had a 6.7
earthquake. Thankfully, there were no deaths
and only minor injuries, but the entire
community was pretty freaked out and
listening to the station on their transistor
radios. I would not want to go through an
earthquake again, but it sure was a great
night to work in radio and see how it can
make a difference in people's lives.

First job: Working as a stringer
for 'The Arizona Republic' at high school
football games. My first real job was
flipping burgers at the old Sandy's
Hamburgers at 51st Avenue and Indian School
Road. My first radio job was as announcer at
KALJ radio in Yuma in 1977.

First concert: My Dad took me to see Jimmy Dean at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in the 1960's. It was before the Coliseum was built. The only thing I remember is Jimmy Dean singing his big hit "Big Bad John."

Favorite sports team: Phoenix
Roadrunners minor league hockey. My dad took
me to a game when I was in grade school, and
I was hooked. I wanted to be a radio hockey
play-by-play man. I used to take my cassette
recorder and sit up in the rafters of the
Coliseum and do play-by-play. It was great
later in life to also take my son to
Roadrunners games. Too bad the team just
folded, I'll miss them. (Going to the
Coyotes is fun, but they're not "my" team.)

Outside interests: My family and I
are active in our church - Shiloh Community Church in Phoenix.
Devin is a high school student at Scottsdale Christian Academy. He plays on the baseball, football, and basketball teams and sings in the choir. Obviously, we keep busy trying to go to all his events!
We enjoy going to movies, sporting events, and long road trips. We like to vacation at the Beach Cottages in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego. And I love to play catch, basketball, football with my son.